The exhibition, Eclectic Treasures: Bendigo’s private collections, is proving popular and is currently on display at the Post Office Gallery, Bendigo.
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Open seven days, the exhibition showcases 16 local collectors, with a range of unique objects and themes on display.
Eddie Ford is one of the featured collectors. He has been interested in barbed wire and has collected as many different varieties as possible since 1974. Very popular in America, barbed wire collecting is also prevalent in Australia.
Worldwide there are more than 2000 types of barbed wire and more than 530 patents!
Invented in 1867 to hold livestock on ranches across the American western states, barbed wire grew in popularity.
Worldwide there are more than 2000 types of barbed wire and more than 530 patents!
- Simone Bloomfield
At the beginning of the World War I, wire was manufactured to slow troops on the battlefields and, as steel companies experimented with designs, more varieties emerged.
Interestingly, the single-strand four-point military entanglement wire that Eddie has in his collection has a strong local connection. Designed by Bendigonian Mr HA Abbott, it was patented in 1943. According to The Examiner, a Tasmanian newspaper, in 1941:
“A new kind of barbed wire had been invented by Mr H. A. Abbott, of Bendigo, and was being mass produced for home defense and for export. This wire was originally patented as a military wire and was later adapted for commercial use but galvanised for durability.”
Another local collector, Tim Baxter, collects vinyl records. He has never counted how many albums and singles in his music collection, but guesses there may be between 8,000 and 12,000!
Around 1980 is my first real memory of desperately wanting a vinyl LP. It was Dynasty by Kiss. I was nine.
Tim approached the selection of records for this exhibition in a personal way.
He decided to lend 16 records that define his relationship with his best friend. Tim and Damian Chinn shared a mutual extraordinary love of music. For 25 years they were best friends until September 17, 2013 when Damian took his own life.
He had a history of mental illness and substance abuse.
Tim dedicates his selection of 16 records for exhibition to the memory of Damian and the times they shared together.
For Tim, each record is a memory shared with Damian.
To view the barbed wire, the records and the other amazing items on display, visit the Post Office Gallery from 9am – 5pm daily. Entry is by donation.
